Organic overhaul for autumn

Here is a selection of simple, organic tips to help keep your garden ticking over during the colder months.

Continue to dig over your compost heap this autumn and winter

Composting: The composting process will slow down as the days get colder, but keep digging over your compost heap and adding green and brown garden waste, fruit and veggie kitchen waste, shredded paper and dust and fluff from the vacuum cleaner. The man of the house can also wee on the heap if he fancies…

Green manure: After the growing season, sow green manures such as clover and alfalfa on bare soil to smother weeds, act as mulch and harness nutrients to the earth. Dig in after growth and leave to decompose.

Wormeries: Using worms as composters is a great way of disposing of small amounts of kitchen and garden waste. They are smaller than earthworms, which live in the soil and are not used on decaying organic matter.

Fallen leaves: Collect healthy fallen leaves to make leafmould or add them to the compost heap. It is important to collect leaves as they act as a shelter for garden pests. Dispose of diseased leaves and don’t use them in leafmould or compost.

Weeding: Tackle unwanted plants by hand and compost them, but make sure any with seeds are disposed of and not composted.

Pests: Slugs can be targeted with a nematode and snails can be picked off by hand. Hopefully, hedgehogs will also use both as tasty treats as they fatten up for hibernation. Leatherjackets (cranefly larvae) damage lawns and can be treated with a nematode, as can carrot fly larvae and certain greenhouse pests such as fungus gnat.